Hollows
by heartsways
Summary: After a busy night of trick or treating with Henry, Emma and Regina return to the Mayoral mansion where All Hallows' Eve really begins...


**Title:** Hollows  
**Author: **heartsways  
**Rating:** NC-17  
**Fandom: **Once Upon A Time  
**Pairing:** Regina/Emma  
**Disclaimer:** All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.  
**Summary: **After a night of trick or treating, Emma and Regina return to the Mayoral mansion and All Hallows' Eve truly begins…  
**Author's Note:** You can find me on twitter: heartsways or on tumblr

**Emma sighed heavily, pushing the door to the Mayoral mansion shut and leaning against it, wiping a hand over her brow. Her feet ached mercilessly and her initial enthusiasm for trick or treating had waned about an hour ago. But she'd trudged along behind Henry with as much gusto as she could summon, pasting a bright smile on her face**** every time he skipped up a garden path, shouting 'trick or treat'.**

**She looked up the stairs to where Regina was pacing a little, the tapping of her heels on the wooden floor the only sound in the house.**

**"****He's fine," Emma said, wincing as she moved forwards and staggered up the steps. Bending painfully, she unzipped her boots and kicked them off, ignoring Regina's glare as they clattered onto the floor.**

**"****I'm not entirely certain that an evening of horror films with ****that**** woman constitutes to my son being ****fine****," Regina spat, wringing her hands together and frowning.**

**"****That woman," Emma ****repeated, "is my roommate. Henry's schoolteacher. And as for scary movies, well, they're watching Harry Potter. Seeing as the kid insisted on dressing up as a Dementor, it kinda seems appropriate, don't you think?"**

**Regina shrugged and puffed out a disconsolate breath. "I wouldn't know, dear. I haven't seen any of them. And what's a Dementor?" She was still confused by the ragged black shroud that Henry had donned as his Halloween costume. He looked disturbingly like a wraith. And that, Regina knew from bitter experience, heralded no good whatsoever.**

**"****It's a soul-sucker," Emma remarked, a faint grin on her lips. "It sucks all the joy out of everything." She eyed Regina with a pointed stare until the Mayor's lip curled at the not-so-vague inference.**

**"****Well you certainly didn't need to escort me home," Regina sniffed disdainfully, as Emma padded towards her on stockinged feet.**

**"****Given the option of a sleepover with Harry Potter or coming back here, I figure I made the right choice," Emma chuckled, coming to a halt just inches from where Regina stood. She cocked her head onto one side and looked carefully at Regina's taut features, her worried eyes. Leaving Henry with Mary Margaret hadn't been an easy decision for her to make; of that, Emma was certain. But at least the Mayor was trying, despite her hostility towards the schoolteacher, to put Henry first. When the kid had turned to her with wide, pleading eyes and a bucket full of candy, Regina had reluctantly acquiesced.**

**Emma had to admit, it was one of the nicest things she'd ever seen Regina do. Even if it appeared to be taking its toll right now.**

**"****Besides," she said, reaching out and briefly running her fingers down Regina's arm, "I had to make sure you were safe, you know?"**

**"****Safe?" Regina echoed, head jerking back on her neck. "From whom, precisely?"**

**"****The ghouls and ghosties," Emma said, her face deadpan. "It ****is**** Halloween, after all. Who knows what sort of dark ****magic is in the air?"**

**Regina's nostrils flared but she had the good sense to bite back the retort that sprang to her lips. A tight smile widened her mouth as she nodded curtly and tried to suppress the regret she felt whenever she thought of magic. **

**"****Who indeed?" she said tersely. "But I'm sure that the only magic you'll find in Storybrooke is contained within those silly films Henry's watching right now."**

**"****Yeah?" Emma's eyebrows rose. "Are you sure about that?"**

**Her gaze swept appreciatively up and down Regina's body. One thing she liked the most about the Mayor was that when she did something, she didn't hold back. In any and ****_every_**** area of her life. Subtlety wasn't exactly one of Regina's strong points; never more so than when it came to selecting a costume. The red velvet dress that the Mayor had chosen – and where the hell had she got ****_that_**** on such short notice anyway? – clung to her form, accentuating curves that Emma had followed with fingertips and tongue in the impassioned darkness of Regina's bedroom.**

**Now Regina smiled, baring her teeth in a distinctly wolfish manner. "Why Miss Swan," she said in silken tone, "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."**

**"****Uh huh," Emma nodded. "And I'm pretty sure that you ****do****."**

**As Regina assumed an expression of confused ignorance, Emma rolled her eyes and slid her arms around the other woman's waist, pulling her close with a rough, hasty touch.**

**"****I know that Halloween is supposed to be about all the bad things lurking out there," Emma murmured as Regina let out a gratified sigh and moved against her, "but seriously, Regina, that dress is sinful."**

**"****I take it you approve of my costume then?" Regina laughed softly, as Emma's fingers splayed out across her upper back, inching their way up to where her hair fell over the neckline of her dress.**

**Emma pressed their mouths together in a kiss that she'd waited for all evening. The groan that resonated from Regina's throat to hum against Emma's lips was proof enough that she wasn't the only one. By the time Emma drew back, both women were breathing a little faster than before, Regina's fingers plucking at the leather jerkin that Emma was wearing.**

**"****I wish I could say the same about yours****," Regina hissed slightly as Emma's fingers buried themselves in her hair and pulled a little too insistently. "I know you wanted to dress as Henry's White Knight, but is that really in keeping with the spirit of Halloween?"**

**She extricated herself from Emma's grasp and cast a rather disdainful glance at the Sheriff's outfit. Emma had opted for some distractingly tight pants, at odds with the high-heeled boots she'd soon discovered were wholly unsuited to walking the streets of Storybrooke. Underneath her leather jerkin, she wore what passed as chainmail, although it was made of a light material that would be no match for the armor of knights who had ****fought bravely in Regina's land.**

**At her waist, a belt was slung around her hips, threaded through a scabbard that held a sword. It wasn't a real sword, of course. Emma had brandished the wooden weapon in the air, waving it in front of Henry's delighted eyes and swearing to protect his honor or die trying.**

**Now, however, Emma unbuckled the belt and let it fall to the floor behind her, shrugging off Regina's disapproving gaze and reaching for the fastenings on her leather vest.**

**"****Hey, every town needs a hero," she said equivocally, lunging at Regina and capturing her mouth in a heated kiss once more.**

**Hands scrabbled at clothing and it was a long moment before Emma wrenched herself away, gazing at Regina with stormy, greedy eyes. Mouth open, Regina put a finger to her plump, red lips and allowed herself the luxury of a satisfied smile, eyebrows rising in amused incredulity.**

**"****So you're a hero now, are you?" she commented in a lazy drawl. "I'm sure you have the criminal element of Storybrooke quaking in its boo****ts with your inappropriate footwear and your wooden sword."**

**"****See, that's the thing," Emma responded, shrugging off her vest and hearing it drop onto the wooden floor at her heels. "There ****is**** no criminal element in Storybrooke. Just like there's no ghosts, no**** ghouls and definitely**** no magic, despite what Henry says.****"**

**"****Which makes all our activities tonight rather moot, wouldn't you say?"**

**Emma cocked her head onto one side, squinting at Regina through narrowed eyes. "Hm," she said thoughtfully. "The kid was happy. I guess that's what counts.**** But you had fun too, right?"**

**Regina pursed her lips doubtfully. She could think of a hundred and one things she'd rather have been doing all evening, but she knew that she wouldn't forget Henry's shining face as he'd bounded along in front of them. It had been so long since she'd seen him that happy, that content to be a child and act his age rather than burdening himself with the stories he told Emma and the accusations he threw at her. It happened less than it used to – less since Emma had come to town and the three of them had formed an awkward family unit. And Regina knew that she would subject herself to almost any indignity just to see him smile at her again like he had done tonight.**

**"****Come on," Emma nudged Regina with a hand. "Admit it. You had fun tonight."**

**"****I did," Regina said quietly, before Emma's body pressed up against her own once more and she felt herself backed up against the wall in the hallway. "And I intend to have a lot more before the night is done."**

**A muffled laugh sounded from where Emma's lips were pressed onto her throat, the tip of a tongue lathing a sticky line of intent towards the hollow beneath her ear. Head lolling back on her neck, Regina felt dizzy, ****her heart beating so fast that she was sure it would overwhelm her completely if she let it. She never had quite managed to define just why it was Emma Swan made her feel this way. What had begun in aggression and the heat of battle had given way to something else, something painfully real. Regina didn't know when it had happened; she only knew that it had. Something, somewhere, had shifted. ****_Changed._**** And perhaps ****_she_**** had too.**

**However, Regina thought with a surge of fiery defiance, change didn't have to happen all at once, surely.**

**Twisting out of Emma's grip, Regina grabbed the Sheriff by her upper arms, spin****ning her around and pushing the Sheriff back against the wall, so hard that Emma let out a surprised whoosh of air. Wide green eyes stared at Regina as Emma found her hands pinned above her head, held firmly against the wall by a much stronger grip than she'd given Regina credit for.**

**"****There's one thing you appear to have forgotten about Halloween, hero****," Regina said, her lips pressed close to Emma's ear, hips swirling ****in a tantalizing, slow circle against the blonde's.**

**Emma whimpered; she couldn't help it. When Regina was like this, eyes glittering dangerously and all hope of control abandoned, it was the time when Emma found her the most attractive. Her back arched from the wall and she bit at her lower lip, desperately craving the other woman with a hitherto unrecognized wanton desire that cared little for what was right; only concerned with what was wanted, what was necessary.**

**"****You might like to think of yourself as a force for good in this town," Regina paused briefly to scrape her teeth over Emma's neck, nipping at the pulsing jugular there. "But tonight, dear, is when wickedness comes out to play. When evil has its way with the world. Just as I intend to have my way with you."**

**She laughed, then; a long, slow, rich sound that thrummed a deep chord down the length of Emma's body, trembling between her thighs and making her arch from the wall once more with a groan. And suddenly it struck her, realization as clear and bright as Regina was dark and tempting.**

**"****You're the Evil Queen, aren't you?" she gasped, as Regina stopped kissing her neck, face still in the crook of her neck. "Tonight, I mean," Emma continued in a strained tone. "Your costume. You're Henry's Evil Queen."**

**Regina drew her head back and looked Emma in the eye, inscrutable and smug and yes, a hint of threat racing through her gaze. And then she smiled, so sweetly and kindly that Emma blinked, almost fooled into thinking that she'd imagined the creeping sensation in the pit of her stomach.**

**"****If every town needs a hero," Regina said, "then it surely needs a villain, too."**

**"****You're not a villain," Emma protested weakly, but as Regina's mouth tickled over her jaw, she couldn't help wondering if Regina's own brand of wickedness wasn't just as effective as the Evil Queen of Henry's stories; if the desire she felt for the woman wasn't as potent and as irrevocable as pure magic itself.**

**"****How about you reserve judgment for the morning?" Regina murmured, her free hand unbuttoning Emma's pants and sliding inside, nails scraping over the blonde's belly and further down to where Emma was slick and wet. "How about, tonight, you believe in magic instead?"**

**It wasn't the same as the fire that had burst from her fingertips, Regina thought, as she plunged inside the other woman, feeling Emma buck underneath her touch and let out a guttural moan of gratification. It wasn't the same as the transformations that had given her succor and strength back in her own land. But for tonight, it was magic enough; magic of a different kind. ****And if that was all she had left, Regina comforted herself as she pressed her fevered lips against Emma's, then it would be sufficient to last until morning, at least.**


End file.
